The Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature

Schmidt Number: S-2573

On-line since: 16th December, 2000

LECTURE 7

April 10, 1912

YOU will have understood from the former lectures, that when we gaze
at the planetary system, at the starry heavens, our physical vision
only perceives  maya, the great illusion. We only reach
the reality, the actual facts, when we gradually attain knowledge of
the spiritual beings at work in the various heavenly bodies. We were
obliged, first of all, to make the attempt in these studies to learn
about the individual spiritual beings at work in cosmic space, in the
stellar system; to know these spiritual beings as such; in other
words, we had to become acquainted with the various beings of the
three hierarchies standing above man. You will have noticed that we
have approached the beings of these Hierarchies by pointing out the
ways in which occult consciousness actually penetrates to a sort of
perception of those beings who, in the super-sensible world, are
directly or even indirectly, exalted above man. We tried, as it were,
to follow an inner, a mystic-esoteric way, in order to gain some idea,
a purely spiritual-psychic idea, of the character of the beings of the
higher hierarchies. Only in the last lecture did we try to turn a
little from the inner to the outer, so to speak, and to show how
through a cooperation of a duality in the hierarchies  in the
really normal beings and the Luciferic beings of the hierarchies
 the actual external form of the stars visible to the senses
have come into being. I should now like, before proceeding further
with the occult, esoteric, mystical consideration, to seek a way from
another side, namely, that which is connected with the ordinary
consciousness, and which again brings us to the paths we followed in
the former lectures. In any case we shall have to refer to much in the
earlier lectures in considering this more external way, which starts
from the facts known to normal consciousness.

When with our ordinary normal consciousness we look out into cosmic
space, we discover, first of all, heavenly bodies of various kinds.
These have indeed been differentiated and described by external
materialistic astronomy. Today we will devote our attention to that
which is, to a certain extent, visible to the external consciousness
in a planetary system. There we have the planets themselves, with the
fixed star, the Sun, as their ruler; and circling the planets we have
their moons (speaking of our earth we have our own moon)  and
within the planetary system we also have those remarkable stars, which
are so difficult for the external consciousness to place in the
collective picture of the system  the meteoric and cometary
bodies. We will, to begin with, look away from everything else in the
stellar systems, and fix our attention upon the following quaternary
in a planetary system: the planets, the fixed stars, the moons, and
the comets. Let us be quite clear concerning the obvious fact, that to
the ordinary normal consciousness, only the planet itself and, indeed,
only the particular planet on which the normal consciousness
functions, is perceptible. Thus to the earth-dweller the Earth is the
planet. To the normal consciousness all the rest is at first only
observable in its most external nature. With the hypotheses given us
by the occult-esoteric methods we will now pass on to this external
classification which the normal consciousness provides. We have
already classified man himself, in the ranks of the beings who stand,
as it were, above him, as on the lowest step of the ladder of the
hierarchies. We then ascended to the three categories of the Third
Hierarchy, and described the beings known to western esotericism as
Angels or Angeloi, Archangels, and Archai. Standing above these as the
Second Hierarchy, we have those beings we have described as Spirits of
Form, Spirits of Motion, Spirits of Wisdom; and above these again the
Spirits of Will or Thrones, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim. Only when
we thus fix our attention upon the ranks of the spiritual beings
 the steps, as it were, of the ladder of the different beings of
the Hierarchies, do we bring the earth relations to our esoteric
consciousness. Indeed, if as we have seen, we wish fully to consider
man and everything which appertains to him on this planet, we must
think of him in relation to all these beings. We saw, in the last
lecture, that the phenomena of man and his planet are not to be
spiritually explained, unless we fix our attention on these beings. We
have seen from man to the Spirits of the Age, we are concerned with
beings who, in the first place, play their part in the human,
historical process of civilisation; so that we must regard the beings
of the Third Hierarchy as bringing man himself forward, step by step,
in his earth-development, and as leading the progress of civilisation.
Further, we have seen that while these beings of the Third Hierarchy
remain above, certain of their offspring, which we have called the
nature-spirits, descend into the world of nature, and work there. We
have also seen that when we turn our attention to the planets
themselves they cannot be explained unless we think of their forms as
determined by the Spirits of Form; their inner mobility and activity
by the Spirits of Motion, and their consciousness by the Spirits of
Wisdom. This only refers to the inner part of the planet, the inner
part of the earth, that part of it which belongs to man. We have
further seen that if only beings up to the rank of the Spirits of
Wisdom were active, the planet would be still. The fact that it moves,
and has an impulse to movement, we must ascribe to the Spirits of
Will; and the regulation of the movement in the whole planetary
system, we must ascribe to the Cherubim. We have thus put together the
whole planetary system; for while the movements of the individual
planets are so ordered that together they comprise the system, it must
be presumed that the whole is directed from the fixed stars. And in
the Seraphim, we have that which speaks from the

Seraphim
Cherubim

Thrones
Spirits of Wisdom

Spirits of Motion
Spirits of Form

Spirits of the Age
Archangels

Angels
Man

planetary system to cosmic space, to the neighboring planetary system.
We could compare this with the fact that men do not live for
themselves alone, or simply in a social connection  which could
be compared with the directing of the Spirits of Will  but that
men understand one another by their speech. So, in a similar way there
is mutual understanding between one planetary system and another by
means of the Seraphim. They are, as it were, to the whole system, that
which corresponds to the speech which draws men together, holds them
together, and leads them to agreement. The Seraphim carry messages
from one planetary system to another, and give information of what
takes place in one planetary system to the other system. Through this
means the world of planetary systems is integrated and forms a whole.

We were obliged to instance these successive grades the Beings of the
Hierarchies, for all the forces and activities proceeding from these
Hierarchies are perceptible in the collective phenomena of man on his
planet. Occult vision teaches us that, just as this whole system of
beings has to do with the Earth-planet, so in like manner a similar
system belongs to other planets. When man, with all the means at his
disposal, directs his occult vision to the other planets of our own
planetary system he finds that the same experiences that we make when
as human beings, we approach the Cherubim, Seraphim, or Thrones, we
make also with regard to other planets. In other words, everything
which I have described as necessary in order that we may raise
ourselves to a being of the rank of Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, in so
far as they cooperate in the occurrences of the earth-planet 
all this we find when we direct our spiritual vision to Saturn, or to
other planets our system. Exactly in the same way must we proceed as
far down as the Spirits of Motion. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones,
Spirits of Wisdom;  thus far the results for occult vision are
the same for all the individual planets of our Planetary System,
whether we direct our observation to Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus,
we find the same results if we fix our attention on the activities of
these particular beings. On the other hand, we no longer find the same
results for the other planets of our system, as regards the activity
of the Spirits of Motion and the Spirits of Form. In other words, if
we try to direct our occult vision to another planet  to Mars,
for instance  and ask ourselves: How do the Seraphim, Cherubim,
Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom work upon Mars? The answer is: They
work there just as upon our earth. But if we ask the same question
with regard to the Spirits of Motion and Form, this is no longer the
case. The activities of these two categories of higher hierarchies
differ from one another as regards the individual planets, We must
make this distinction: Every planet of our Planetary System has its
own Spirit of Form, its own Spirit of Motion.

Now we can also direct our occultly developed vision to the Sun
itself, the fixed star. If we wish to know the fixed star in its own
being, we must be careful that in our observation of it we do not
confuse it with what, in the main, has significance, not for the fixed
star, but for its surrounding planets. Let us understand correctly. In
a previous lecture I stated that all these beings of the higher
Hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form, actually work together in the
cosmic system as a sort of Council having its residence in the Sun;
that the Sun is actually the center of activity of all these spirits.
Now when it is stated that Mars, for instance, has its own Spirit of
Form, likewise has Jupiter, and also the earth, we must if we wish to
speak in picture (and in relation to these exalted conditions
everything is more or less a picture) we must imagine that although
actually the seat, the center, of the activities of the Spirits of
Form of Mars and Jupiter and so on, is always the Sun; that they work
from there, from the fixed star; yet their sphere of action on Mars
is, so to speak, allotted to the Spirits of Form from the Sun. They
work upon Mars from the Sun; other Spirits of Form work upon the
Earth, others upon Jupiter. That which they perform is an activity for
the benefit of the whole system. Now we will not ask what is
accomplished from the Sun, from the fixed star, for the benefit of the
planets; but rather what takes place in the realm of the fixed star
itself for its own beings, for the actual evolution of the beings
belonging to the fixed star.

We can best understand this matter if we compare it with what a man
does for other men; we cannot regard this activity as directly meaning
something for his own development; it is done for the benefit of
others. This particular activity of the Spirits of Form and the
Spirits of Motion benefits the planetary system. But now if we ask:
Apart from the fact that the fixed star is surrounded by planets, how
does evolution take place upon the fixed star itself as a separate
entity? What contributes to the evolution of the beings of the fixed
star itself? We then actually find the same boundary. If we direct our
occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our system to the Sun, we
have to say; those spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, from
the Seraphim down to the Spirits of Wisdom, alone have a certain power
over the nature of the Sun; they alone are active for the development
of the fixed star itself and its beings; whereas the Spirits of Motion
and Form can, so to speak, do nothing for the evolution of the beings
of the fixed star itself, to them is apportioned the planets which
surround the fixed star in the planetary system.

Thus, if we direct our gaze to the fixed star, we must say: Life upon
the fixed star is so exalted, so grand and mighty, that the beings
developing there can only associate with beings of the sublimity of
the Seraphim, Cherubim. Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom; while the
Spirits of Motion and Form who are going through their evolution upon
the fixed star itself, are powerless to do anything for its evolution.
They are not of sufficiently exalted rank; they, who are of such
immense importance for the humanity of the planets, are of no
importance to the fixed star; they are powerless to work upon its
development. Thus if we fix our attention on the being of the planet,
and look away from the humanity dwelling upon it  on our earth
 we can say: In so far as the planet has its place in the solar
system, all ranks of beings down to the Spirits of Form have an
influence on its development. Down to the Spirits of Wisdom we have to
reckon the sphere of influence upon the fixed stars; down to the
Spirits of Form the sphere of influence upon the planets.

Now within the planetary system there still remain two cosmic bodies,
the moon and the comets and the question now is: How do these cosmic
bodies present themselves to occult vision? If directed to the moon,
which revolves round our earth, what forms of activity does occult
vision find there?

Occult vision finds upon the moon nothing of that which is developed
as human life upon the earth. An evolution resembling the human is not
to be found upon the moon. Nor is there anything to be found upon it,
as regards its evolution, which can be compared to our animal kingdom.
Neither of these is to be found by occult vision upon our moon. It
would, of course, be trivial and superfluous to say that no human
beings incorporated in flesh perambulate the moon, or such animals as
are to be met with upon the earth; when an occultist uses such
expressions he means something essentially different. It certainly
might be possible for something resembling the higher principles of
human nature (the human ego, or astral body) to be in existence under
other conditions on a cosmic body, and there go through a development
without being incarnated in a human fleshly or etheric body. That is
conceivable  and such conditions really do exist. It is
conceivable that an evolution in a spiritual sense might take place
upon the moon without the external embodiment, the external stamp of
the beings resembling those of man; but it does not happen to be the
case. Nothing like human history, like a development of beings who
might even psychically resemble man or our animals, exists upon the
moon. Even if we ascend from man to the beings we have called the
first spiritual leaders of mankind, whom we have described as Angels
in the ranks of the hierarchies, we do not find their evolution upon
the moon. We find there no form of activity, no forces, such as those
which proceed from the intervention upon earth of the Angels, or the
Angeloi. We have described somewhat exactly what these beings have to
do for mankind upon the earth. No such intervention takes place on the
moon. Nowhere do we find traces of any human or animal activity, or
any such as we could attribute to the Angels. But if we go further and
fix our attention on the forces by means of which the Archangels
forward human evolution and if we then turn our occult sight to the
moon, strange to say we find these forces existing there. Occult
vision finds there as active forces in existence on the moon the same
forces which it encounters when, in contemplating the earth evolution,
it looks upon the development of a people through its Folk-soul,
through its Archangel. The Archangel who spiritually guides the lives
of nations is present in his special characteristic as forces and
speaks to us when we focus our spiritual sight upon the moon. When we
fix our attention upon the nature of those spiritual beings whom we
designate as the Archai or Spirits of the Age, the beings who take
charge of and lead earthly evolution from one epoch to another 
for instance, from the Egyptian civilisation to the Greek, or from the
Greek to our own  if we acquire an occult vision of the forces
which rule in the guidance of evolution by the Spirit of the Age, we
find again these same distinctive forces when we look upon that which
meets our gaze from the moon. So, just as we could, for the planet,
designate for its sphere the beings of the higher hierarchies as far
as the Spirits of Form, so can we also set limits to the sphere of the
Moon and say: The sphere of the Moon extends as far as the Archangels.

Now, before we continue to study the results of occult investigation
as we have done before, it will be useful for our further
consideration if, from the point of view of occultism, we further
compare the moon and planets and the fixed star. In undertaking such a
comparison, it is necessary, in the first place, to acquire the right
ideas of what exists in man himself and especially in his physical
body, in a way not taken into account by the ordinary materialistic
anatomy and physiology. What does the ordinary anatomist of today do
when he investigates a physical body? Well, he takes a piece of the
liver, let us say, then a piece of nerve or brain substance as
contiguous substances; these he investigates side by side, comparing
the one with the other in a purely external way. The ordinary
materialistic anatomist or physiologist does not take into
consideration the fact that when we have before us a piece of
brain-substance and a piece of liver-substance, we have absolutely
different things. In one part of the human body we have something upon
which the higher bodies, the super-sensible principles, work in quite a
different way from how they do on another part. Thus, for instance, a
portion of brain substance is so constituted that the whole structure,
the whole formation could not arise if this substance had not been
worked upon, not only by the etheric body, but also by an astral body.
The astral body permeates and works upon the brain-substance, and
there is nothing in the brain-substance or the nerve-substance upon
which the astral body, in cooperation with the etheric body, does not
work. Take on the other hand a portion of the liver, you must imagine
that the liver is also permeated by the astral body, but that it does
nothing for the liver, takes no part in the inner organisation of the
liver. On the other hand, the etheric body takes a very essential part
in the organisation and structure of the liver. The different organs
in man are in reality very different from each other. We can only
study the liver when we know that in it the etheric body with its
forces plays the chief part, and that the astral body, though it
certainly permeates the liver as water does a sponge, has no special
share in its formation or inner configuration. We can only picture the
brain-substance as something in which the astral body has essentially
the largest share, and the etheric body only a lesser one. Again, in
the whole structure of the blood-system, even to the framework of the
heart, the ego has its essential part, whilst in the organisation of
nerve-substance as such, for instance, the ego takes no part at all
 not to mention the other organs. Thus, when we consider the
physical body of man in the occult sense, not in the sense of mere
formulae, we have in its various organs, things, beings of quite
different value, of quite different essence, altogether of quite
different nature. We may say that what in man is his liver or his
spleen depends upon higher principles at work within it. Liver and
spleen are very different organs; the astral body has, in a very
special manner, a strong share in the spleen, whilst it has hardly any
share in the liver. All these things will at some time have to he
studied; and indeed at no very distant date, by the physiologists and
anatomists, because gradually facts will come to light in the
materialistic descriptions of the organs of men, animals and plants,
which would have no sense at all if only compared as though they were
peas and beans, as external anatomy and physical science does to-day.
How something in the world and in man stands to the spirit, represents
its true nature. And as in man, so it is in the heavenly system. A
moon is quite different from a planet or fixed star. We have already
seen that the relation of the beings of the higher hierarchies are
different as regards the Sun from what they are in regard to the moon
or the planets; consequently we must fix our attention on the
following in order to describe these differences. Suppose we could
take out of a planetary system  as if we peeled them off 
all the moons of the individual planets: that is to say thought away
for a moment the fixed star itself and the planets, till we have only
the moons remaining in the planetary system. If occult vision were so
directed that it only observed the moons  everything which is
moon within the planetary system, everything in which the forces, as
far down as the Archangels, are the same as upon our earth in the
successive evolution of humanity  we should then gain a very
definite impression; we should have a very definite occult experience.

We might repeat this occult experience a second time. Anyone with
trained occult vision can, if he has sufficient will-power, think away
the fixed star and the planets from the planetary system so that only
the moons remain (that is to say, he must fix his attention only upon
that for which he has prepared himself). He must then seek for
something else from which he has the same impression as that connected
with all the moons of a planetary system. Precisely the same
impression as is made upon one by visualizing all the moons, is also
made on one who looks at a human corpse, a physical body, the bearer
of which has recently passed through the gate of death. Although these
things appear externally as absolutely different, what appears to
natural science as an external difference is Maya. The impression made
upon our occult vision when we, as human beings, stand thus with
regard to all the moons of a planetary system on the one hand, and on
the other stand before a physical body left behind, deserted by the
astral and etheric bodies is one and the same. From this arises the
occult knowledge that in the moons that are continually coming into
existence the planetary system is gradually forming its own corpse
within itself. All the moons of a system which are continually being
formed will constitute the corpse of a planetary system. The
difference with regard to man is, that at the moment when he, with his
being, passes into the condition in which the planetary system is when
it forms its moons, he then rejects his corpse; while the planetary
system keeps the corpse within itself, binds it together, and
condenses the dying matter into moons. Thus it is as though man, when
he goes through the gates of death, were not to lay aside his physical
body, but were to form it into some sort of organ, and by a certain
power within him, drag it about with him. A planetary system actually
drags about its own corpse, and indeed a continually changing corpse,
in its moons; a corpse which is in the process of becoming, which is
in the course of evolution.

Let us now go further and try to describe the impression which occult
sight has when it thinks away all the moons of the planetary system as
well as the fixed star and the possibly existing comets. If he thus
fixes his attention upon the whole system of the planets themselves,
completely concentrates himself upon this system of planets, makes the
impression clear to himself and imprints it upon his memory in order
to describe it, he must again, later, compare this impression with
something which differs from the impression he received from the
individual planets. If a man searches for something which will give
him the same impression as does the totality of the planets of a
system he finds in his immediate earthly environment none other than
that made on him if he allows the various forms of the animals to work
upon him. This is an impression which it is extremely difficult to
gain completely; but it can be partially gained by allowing various
animal forms to work upon one. One cannot at one time have an occult
impression of all the animals on the earth  that would be, too
complicated  but a compromise can be made by letting a number of
characteristic animal forms so work upon him that he only takes into
consideration the occult forces at work in those forms; then,
comparing them by means of occult vision, he can gain from the form
something producing a similar impression to that made by the totality
of the planets of a system. Thus as the animal kingdom lives on earth
(and in so far as man has an extract of the animal body in his living
body we can also draw this comparison with the living human body) and
the impression of all the forms working in the animal kingdom
resembles the forces which proceed from the individual planets 
we can say the following: The actual living body, the body with which
a living, conscious being is endowed as in primitive man, or in the
animals, corresponds to the system of planets of a planetary system;
so that in a whole planetary system we have all that we call the
totality of the planetary mass, the living body, that is, the body
permeated by the principle of life and of consciousness. The totality
of the planets of a system is therefore the Living body of the
planetary system. If we consider all the spiritual beings we have
described as contained in the planetary system as the spirit and soul
of the system, we must then consider the totality of the planets as
its living body, and the totality of the moons as the corpse of the
planets, which they drag about with them.

Now let us direct our occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our
case, to the Sun, and try to gain an impression of the fixed star in
the way described for the totality of the moons and planets. If we
notice the impression made by the forces active in the fixed star, we
can find something in the earth conditions themselves which can call
up a similar impression. This again is somewhat difficult, because
this time we have to do with the plants, and we cannot reach the whole
plant-world of our earth. But comparatively speaking it will suffice
if we fix our occult gaze upon a certain number of forms, of
plant-forms, and gain the occult impression of that which works and
lives in the plants; if we allow that to work upon our vision, it
recalls the impression we received from the inner development of the
fixed star.

The differences certainly become ever greater and greater. The
resemblance of a human corpse after death with the totality of the
moons, is really very striking as regards the occult impression. This
resemblance is also pronounced in the impressions made by the
planetary world and the fixed star upon man. The resemblance is
clearly present, but it is no longer so great as that between the
discarded physical human body and the totality of the moons. But the
resemblance becomes infinitely greater if we now demand from occult
vision something special; namely, when we have gained an impression of
a number of plant-forms, we must look away from these plants which we
have observed with occult vision look away from the physical
plant-bodies and make use of those means which the practical occultist
uses when he observes the etheric bodies of the plants. We thus make
an additional observation. We have noted the impression we gained from
the fixed star; we then seek the similar though not yet satisfactory
impression which we gain from a number of plants. We go further; we
abstract the external form of the plant and allow the etheric body
which is within the plant to work upon us. The resemblance then
increases and becomes almost as complete as that between the physical
corpse of a man and the totality of the moons. Occult perception then
realizes that when we look up to the fixed star, what we perceive as
working in the fixed star is the etheric body of the planetary system;
for we actually gain the impression of an etheric body. We understand
the impression which the fixed star makes upon us when we observe the
etheric body of the plants, where it works as yet unmixed with an
astral body, where only the etheric body works, in cooperation with
the physical body. We then gain the knowledge that when we look at the
fixed star, we actually see the etheric body of the planetary system
raying down from it. We can now say: In the moons we have the corpse
of the planetary system, in the totality of the planets we have its
body, its physical body; and in the fixed star itself, raying out from
it, we have the etheric body of the planetary system. In fact, the
possibility of occult vision clinging to the dead paper-mache ideas
upon which all physical astronomy is based, soon ceases; for this
vision everywhere recognizes that the whole planetary system is
permeated by life, and is a living organism. Indeed a continual stream
of etheric life flows from the fixed star to the outermost boundary of
the system, and back again. We have continually to do with life-forces
(as in living animal and plant bodies) which appear centered  I
say that now by way of comparison  centered in the fixed star
 as the life of the animal is centered  let us say 
in the heart; or as plant-life is centered in the various organs which
regulate the rising and failing of the sap. In short, we have to do
with a center of the planetary system, which we must seek in the fixed
star.

After this we can also direct our attention to the comets, to cometary
life. Now I do not doubt that if the characteristics of the planetary
system, which we have just discussed, were heard in external science,
this would be regarded as a very special folly; but that does not
matter at all: Nevertheless with regard to cometary life things become
particularly difficult  because the opportunity of observing
cometary life is such that a certain impartiality of occult vision is
necessary in order to observe this peculiar life in the planetary
system.

It must not for a moment be supposed that in the whole planetary
system there is nothing besides that which we have now called corpse,
physical body, and etheric body; for of course every part is permeated
by the beings of the various Hierarchies. Naturally there are
spiritual-psychic forces everywhere and we need only grasp the fact
that within the system are the Spirits of the Age, the Archangels and
the Luciferic Beings; they all belong to it. We have now discovered in
the planetary system the corpse, the physical body and the etheric
body. From what we have now heard we can, of course, say that
everywhere within the system there is also astral substance, which is
organized into beings; for there is astral substance, even in the
beings of the higher hierarchies.

If we describe man  the microcosm  as he passes before us,
we say: Man consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, etc.
If we describe a planetary system, we must only add something else to
its lowest principle, and we must say: A planetary system consists of
its moons (which are its corpse), its planets (which are its physical
body), and of everything of which the fixed star is the director
(which is its etheric body). The astral body we can find there of
itself; we learn to know of it, by the fact that the beings dwell in
it. Just as man dwells in his sheaths, so do the beings of the higher
hierarchies dwell in the sheath of the corpse, in the physical sheath
and in the etheric sheath of the planetary system. We need not at
first trouble about the astral body, for we already have that by means
of the esoteric-occult vision which is directed inwards. Yet even if
you consider human life upon the earth, you will admit that by means
of this human life  as you know from elementary Spiritual
Science  there arise a number of astral beings, of astral forms,
which are actually harmful, hindering to life. From man himself stream
forth continually, erroneous, base, evil thoughts; these are, as we
know, realities, which pass out into the astral world and continue to
exist there; so that the astral sphere of a planet is filled, not only
by the normal substances of its psychic being, but also by this
out-poured astral substance. If we should only investigate all the
harmful forces brought forth by the various Luciferic Spirits, we
should find an enormous mass of harmful, astral substances in a
planetary system. And in a curious way, the occult vision, which for a
time has had the opportunity of observing cometary life, shows us that
everything of a cometary or meteoric nature is ever striving to
collect round itself all the harmful astral products, and to remove
them out of the planetary system. We shall see further in the course
of these Lectures how this affects in particular the harmful astral
products of humanity; but we see that the noxious Luciferic evils are
carried away through the comets out of the planetary system. Before
concluding this lecture I should like to give you an idea of how this
is done.

If I draw a planetary system with its Sun, we can so indicate a comet
passing through it, that its track crosses the system. Physical
astronomy says that the comet comes from very, very far away. When the
beginning of a thing cannot be traced, it is easy to say that it comes
from very, very far away. So physical astronomy also says  the
comet comes from very far away and it also returns to a very great
distance. Now because certain comets return periodically, physical
astronomy cannot think otherwise than that these comets come from far
away, pass through our system and again disappear; follow a very long
path in cosmic space, and then come back again. Materialistic
astronomy cannot imagine anything else. Occult vision shows us, that,
however, as a matter of fact, just about when the comet disappears
from physical sight, it dissolves, and continues its way through a
world not limited to the ordinary three dimensions of space; it no
longer exists in the ordinary world. It actually disappears on the one
side and appears again on the other. This is a conception of which,
naturally, the materialistic astronomy can make no use; it cannot
conceive that a comet, when it again reappears, has not been in
existence in the meantime. The Anthroposophist should be able to
understand something of such things; for he knows, for example, that
the succession of physical bodies of the human incarnations, form a
complete whole in certain respects, from the force-aspect; and yet
they are not connected physically. Thus, in short, with the exception
of a few comets which really have long-drawn elliptical orbits, the
comets for the most part are so formed that they come in at the one
side and disappear at the other, and when they reappear they have
formed themselves anew. Why? Because as a comet approaches, it
exercises a power of attraction  it is, at first, merely a sort
of spiritual force center; this center attracts all the harmful astral
streams, develops them round itself and thus takes on form. We shall
hear in the next lecture why it has a tail and a nucleus under the
influence of this drawing-up of harmful astral matter. It attracts
more and more of this around it, as it passes through the planetary
system. In its journey towards the other side it draws this along with
it, until it gets beyond the region of the planetary system, when it
casts it out into cosmic space. Then the center of force builds itself
again at the other pole without needing three-dimensional space, once
more takes up the harmful matter and throws it out on the other side.
Thus we must regard cometary life as something which continually works
as a thunder storm in the planetary system, cleansing it. By the
passage of a comet through the planetary system an effort is made to
discharge from it the injurious matters which have been called forth
in the system by the harmful astral radiations of the beings. Thus we
have something in the cometary life of which we cannot, as in the
physical and etheric bodies, find an analogy in man himself. The
physical body of the planetary system is the totality of the planets.
The etheric body is that which, raying out from the fixed star,
streams through the system; but in physical man it is not the case
that he carries his corpse about with him, as the planetary system
does. On the other hand, it has an arrangement for getting rid of the
evil astral matter by means of its comets.

Now if we study what exists in the comet only as maya, yet which is
active within it as force, it is extremely difficult to connect with
it what we have learnt in the course of these lectures. I have
described to you, for example, how one may ascend to the Thrones, and
how this can only be done by studying the human will. If this study is
undertaken with occult means, one can raise oneself up to the Thrones.
But in the comets there is nothing at all to be found, either of the
Spirits of Wisdom or the Thrones. We find in the comets nothing which
would be attainable by any other than those occult methods which I
mentioned in former lectures. These are such methods as proceed from
the fact that we study a man who is not merely a thinking, feeling and
willing human being, but one who can give us a special impression. We
described how this impression can be obtained by allowing ourselves to
be influenced by a man who has behind him decades of rich experience
of life; whose wisdom, as an extract of all this experience, makes an
impression upon us and does more than can be done by arguments of a
logical or more rational sort. The actual power of conviction of the
wisdom derived from human experience, is so impressive that, developed
by occult vision, the spiritual can actually be seen through it; that
first gives our occult vision an idea of the Cherubim. If we further
school this occult vision on the direct convincing effect of the
unspoken wisdom and strength of such a man, whereby what he has gained
through his experience of life is displayed in his eyes, we then gain
an understanding of the impression we need for the sphere of the
Seraphim. But the impression which we can thus obtain does not yet
lead us to the observation of the spiritual behind the comets. All
this is of no avail for an occult study of the comets. Only the two
methods leading to the Cherubim and Seraphim can give us an
elucidation of the comets. The sphere of the comets extends to the
sphere of the Cherubim. We must therefore first know what is the
nature of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in order to understand the
substance and movement of the comets. The evolution of the comets is
therefore dependent upon the beings of the higher hierarchies down to
the Cherubim; the evolution of the fixed star is dependent on the
beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom; the
evolution of the planet itself, apart from the human being who dwells
upon it, is dependent upon the forces proceeding from the higher
hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form; and that which works on the
moon is dependent on the forces which proceed from the higher
hierarchies down to the Archangels. Thus we have described the life of
a planetary system from various sides, and can build further upon this
foundation in the subsequent lectures. To be sure, we must specially
note that we can never grasp these matters by means of merely
mechanical definitions. How often has it been said that every
microcosm corresponds to a macrocosm! We may call man a microcosm, a
solar system in miniature; but if we wish to point out the
correspondence, we must not stop at these abstract assertions, but
must proceed so far with the concrete connection that one realizes
that such mechanical descriptions have but an approximate value in the
world. If we begin by describing the microcosmic man from the physical
body upwards, as the being standing immediately before us, we must in
the planetary system begin by describing the corpse, and must also
find in the physical system the substances of the cometary bodies,
which are the external expression for the purifying astral
thunder-storms in the planetary system.